DIY Linux autopilot - cool for cats... and geeks

I want to share with you the tremendous fun I'm having with the BBBmini DIY ArduPilot project, which I discovered during the summer. Hopefully, I can demonstrate what a sexy DIY Linux Autopilot for around 100 bucks looks like and convince you why Linux autopilots are cooler than a cat playing the piano.

For some background, Mirko Denecke, who designed the BBBmini, wrote an introductory blog post on his DIY ArduPilot Cape here, and about further enhancements here.

Since Mirko released rev1.4 into the wild as Open Hardware, there's been a BBBmini usergroup down at DIY Drones, so that's a good place to see what's happening with the technology.

Rekindled enthusiasm

Being a Linux autopilot enthusiast, I naturally had a BeagleBone Black lying around and so was immediately attracted to this project. While building and getting the BBBmini into the air, I quickly realized that it was just the right kind of project I needed to rekindle my enthusiasm.

DIY Linux autopilots: What's the attraction?

I really love the idea of flying Linux autopilots and must admit I've been hooked since I saw the first talks Andrew Tridgell and others gave on the topic, the early rumors about PXF, and the first boards like NavIO and Erlebrain and so forth. I can see a bright future in this field, with the kind of collaborative community effort such as that down at DIY Drones - which drives the technology forward.

After finally joining the Linux autopilot club, I had a kind of epiphany about how it opens a huge door to the opportunity of getting new ideas integrated much more easily thanks to the power of open innovation. The underlying Linux offers a sense of comfort and massive gains in usability.

Getting more out of your Autopilot

For example, I recently decided to configure my quad to log into different folders each day and rsync my log files to my NAS running samba at startup. That way I can archive them for later use as well and delete old logs when the SD cards becomes full. So, I should be find logs more easily and create a permanent archive, which was the initial reason for the set-up. This was all done with a few very basic modifications and open source tools / software made available by developers for public use.

Build your own DIY Linux autopilot

So, if you too like getting hands-on and want to make your own DIY Linux autopilot, now is the time to get your feet wet.

I really would like to the cape (BBBmini) you design for BBB. However, I prefer to integrate BBBmini with BBB as a single PCB, instead of with two independent PCBs out there. So, for the idea, what about your opinion?

@Samuel, the cape is the best way to expand the BeagleBone I/O while keeping the footprint (stacked Boards) at minimum. At this price, my opinion is that, there is no real advantage to design a custom board considering the development, test, debug, gerber , pcb production, pick-and place and reflow for a low volume production and on a chip that is getting near its end of life. Seeedstudio , just completed this cycle with the BBB Green, taylored to their line of peripherals- Grove Family - that are mainly I2C stuff, and they retail it at 39$. I am currently flying with a ErleBrain and a BBB and the cape has never caused me any issuees. Hope that helps.

Thank you for your explanation on disadvantages of integrating BBBmini into BBB as a single PCB.

And also, you have already been playing around with ErleBrain combining BBB with PXF. But, ErleBrain 2 has an integrated solution which integrates IMU breakout baord (PXF) into linux based board (similar to Raspberry Pi 2 Model B) as a single PCB [1].